Feedback talk:Regina Buenaobra

From Guild Wars Wiki

Contents 1 Build contest stats 2 the undeciphered Asuran banner 3 weekend events 4 Codex Arena is Awesome! 5 Small Thanks 6 Bahltek 7 So? 8 My praise 9 Question about the Test Krewe NDA 10 hai Linsey 11 As we near the 7 month anniversary of the XTH being down... 12 Lyssa was the Greek goddess of rabies and mad rage, but also a zombie? 13 Dreadspawn Maw 14 Anything you can do ... 15 SRO and GW Skill Icons Usage 16 Armor Greens 17 2 quick suggestions 18 Skill Balance for November 2009 19 Guild Wars losing players, poor chices, and all when the end is near. 20 The Login Screen 21 Thank you

Posting Guidelines Ideally, this will be a welcoming and accepting space for all people, where everyone is treated with respect and politeness. If you're unable to post without being polite to everyone on the wiki, please post at a time when you're able to. If I ask you to check your tone or the way you act towards me and other members of this wiki, please take that as a reminder of this rule. Please check my archives, the archives of other staff members, my FAQ, and the FAQs of other staff members before asking a question, because it may have already been answered. Please keep in mind that, due to current wiki licensing terms, we are unable to accept or comment on user-submitted suggestions. These include suggestions masked as a question (examples: “When will you implement [feature]?” or “Are there any plans to add [frequently requested feature]?”) These types of topics will be tagged for removal. This is a space for community issues surrounding Guild Wars. Each of the staff members that participate on the wiki has defined roles. Please take note that you are posting in the appropriate place before asking a question. Bug reports should be directed to the bug report pages. AI bugs Art bugs Armor art bugs Quest bugs Skill bugs Text bugs Miscellaneous bugs GW1 lore and design-related questions should be directed to Linsey Murdock. Support and account problems should be directed to Gaile Gray. Code or AI problems should be directed to Joe Kimmes, but you can post them here as well. Skill suggestions can be made by either going to the Feedback portal or on the fansite forums. When making a post, please use a descriptive subject line. It makes the Table of Contents usable. Postings that ignore these guidelines may be deleted without comment or notice. These guidelines may be updated from time to time.’’ Thanks for your help!

Archives by Topic Random Chatter Wiki Topics Game Related Topics Community & Website Product Information Misplaced Topics, Etc. Other Pages Regina's Work Blog Feedback portal Suggestions Guild Wars Guild Wars 2 Website Bug Reports AI bugs Art bugs Armor art bugs Quest bugs Skill bugs Text bugs Localization bugs Miscellaneous bugs

[edit] Build contest stats

Hi Regina, not sure if you're the best person to ask, but are more statistics about the build contest going to be released? I was very impressed to see the 30k submission number, but, of course, more detail would always be appreciated. Things like, how many were unique, how many per profession, within profession how many by attribute (i.e. how many sword vs. axe vs. hammer for warriors), etc. Maybe some oddball stats, like which skill was used most often, or how many players submitted builds for all professions, too. Will any additional info like this be released, either with the contest results or otherwise? Thanks! -- FreedomBound 18:46, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Hi Regina, thanks for the update in your journal. I know you said that the mining might take too long for some of the questions that I asked, but, any chance you could just provide a dump of the submissions? Even the raw template code would be enough for the community to delve into it and answer some of the questions I asked. Thanks! -- FreedomBound 15:42, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

[edit] the undeciphered Asuran banner

From the Feedback talk:Matthew Medina (section), but since noone answers I will post it her and someone can remove it there. I dont know how to or can I just delete it on her talkpage.

Does the azura banner mean this?

. gata el ya gya.. balas ya

. the cat and gya.. bullets and

Got it almost^^(spanish translation), I guess it means the charr with guns in gw2. Couldnt translate the first words from each line. Death Sligher 18:37, 27 September 2009 (UTC)

It would be more like "Cat the now gya.. bullets now". But I doubt it being Spanish at all. It doesn't make any sense. MithTalk 22:00, 27 September 2009 (UTC)

Because spanish grammar is the same as english grammar. BlazeRick 07:09, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

What is this asura banner you speak about?--Fighterdoken 21:41, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

Asuran Beacon --24.197.253.243 21:44, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

"Years ago cats prepared bullets and.." was the most i could get out of it. The words seem to be mixed up. 'gata' meaning female cat, and 'gya' is not Spanish it means the past or time from the past (see the wiki page) Rslink 03:36, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Something, just something, tells me they didn't plan guns during the creation of EN... But who knows. -- Konig/talk 04:40, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Would be nice if regina could say us what it now really means:/. 62.133.217.148 09:52, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Gun where an inevitable addition since the first powder keg exploded. MithTalk 11:50, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Anyone already found out what it means:S?Death Sligher 23:09, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

Bala can mean bullet, but it could also be a bale, less interesting and maybe less likely, ya ... ya is usually or ... or but could have different meanings, but where can I find this Banner? is it the beacon as suggested above? or if you could just post the entire sentence or something, I'm not an expert when it comes to Spanish but I might be able to translate moreMal 12:30, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

When you enter the preceding text into the bing translator and set it on Auto-check the languages that is used the outcome is as follow: "Cat the already gya.. bullets already"

[edit] weekend events

can we please get a calender of what the weekend events are going to be i know you guys talked about this awhile back but i don't think anything came of it.- Zesbeer 23:34, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

It could be more than useful. In case you plan these events much ahead of time. - J.P.Talk 23:37, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Codex Arena is Awesome!

I must say I love the new format. It really forces the players to think to make up original bars that may not be a part of the current meta.

Some players have presented issues *6 fire skills but no fire attunement*, *Air attunement but only invoke and gale*, *lack of healing prayers*

I see this as being common with a randomized system. I also see it as perfectly acceptable. If a player can't work with the 20 skills he/she has been given, he/she needs to either change their secondary, change their primary, or try again the next day as the skills will constantly change.

In response to the above issues, I would like to ask you this, Regina. * I would ask Linsey, but she locked her page because it was overflowing :D

What system did the Live Team use to determine the random choice of the 20 skills? Are there any mechanics in place to prevent same or similar skills to be chosen on consecutive days? And are the skills divided into tiers as a form of usefulness as they have been in Sealed-Deck sanctioned tournaments at past PAX events?

Thank you for your consideration, again, love the new format :) --Malchior Devenholm 03:36, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm a bit worried, it's almost too random with too many Elites to pick from but not enough support powers. Some primaries apparently just get locked out of attacks entirely (like Paragons were today) while other classes can just look through the long(ish) list of Elites, load up PvX, and then Broadcast their that exact build (or whatever is improvised for it) by it's known Meta nickname. I fail to see how that reinforces "honorable" play. --ilr 05:23, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

I don't like very much the fact of people making teams to enter. I though it would be a bit more like the costume brawling, just with a more skills, but still letting anyone in. If you have to form a team, those that PUG may find themselves with a 'trend of the day', in which only the 4 professions with the best 4 elites are used. If parties was formed randomly, then success won't depend just on how good are the players on finding that 'build of the day' - usually in pages like PvXWiki - leaving the other 6 professions and players that favor them out. Instead of that, random formation will allow anyone to join, and the Honor system will keep them inside even if it's not the 'build of the day' party. And then it would depend just on the skill of each player separately, not on the knowledge of the party leader or the pages he checks. At least I hope the system checks which skills are most used each day, and prevents them from appearing again for a while. Something like a 'weight' system. The more a skill is picked in the Codex, the 'heavier' it gets, and the harder it is for it to appear again. And the heaviest skills are completely left out of the daily list. MithTalk 11:35, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

kind of agreed with mith but i also feel that the arena is really defense based and thus making matches last for ever. every time i have played we need two healers to get anywhere because of the lack of good healing skills. i also think it would be awesome to have a random codex were you cant make a team you just have a bar and hit enter like you said but i also like the team aspect of it because not all the time do i have a full party of 6-8 to play gvg or ha and ab is super stale right now. so i would be in favor of either more skills per day and have it change every other day or buff the skills just for the codex. lastly i would love a weighting system to bring the most popular skills out of the loop for a bit or just make them a rarer drop- Zesbeer 11:46, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

We already have Random Arena if you want to pair up with bad people running mediocre bars. Putting out more skills and changing it less often would cause stale metas to sit around for even longer. Also, the point is that the skills are random - weighting out popular (read: useful) skills is just stupid, mostly because it encourages bad gimmicks. ··· Danny Pew Pew 18:35, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

I just want to say that I love how it was coded so that PvE characters could equip and use the codex skills even if they didn't have them bought. Only having to slightly alter PvE equipment is a small trade-off for looking pretty. Mr J 11:56, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

"It really forces the players to think to make up original bars that may not be a part of the current meta."

I just want to point out that after ~2 hours, everyone was running prage sword, glimmer, Weapon of Remedy, and an ele or second frontline. That's a meta if I've ever seen one. is for Raine, etc. 17:53, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

Unfortunately, lazy people will always exist. Bad players will always exist. People will always need an easy route, another person to do the thinking for them, so of course, people will eventually copy paste builds. That can't be prevented.--*Yasmin Parvaneh* 18:19, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

We ran prage axe at that time, then we ran stunning strike(adrin), poison arrow/barbed something(underwood), glimmer/return(pug monk) and weapon of fury(pospospos). Pika Fan 18:21, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

We were running D, Me, E, Mo and wiping that PRage build constantly, for 50 consec, tbh. There are always going to be good combinations and bad combinations from Sealed Deck - you can't expect people to not figure out what works. ··· Danny Pew Pew 18:32, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

In any case, that "Popularity Flagging" weight system pointed out above should really be put into play in the random skill generation code to keep the meta-whoring suppressed. ...IoW: Anyone who can organize stuff neatly and legibly, plz go post your own variants of that suggestion to the Feedback Space. --ilr 21:02, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

Why would you want to suppress meta skills? So bad skills without any utility begin to see play? Removing some of the randomness from SD removes some of the quality of it as well. ··· Danny Pew Pew 21:25, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

OMG Ur Bad at logic...Easily re-organizing around OP Metas is the Antithesis of retaining Randomness. --ilr 21:30, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

You're obviously considering "randomness" to mean "force people to use skills that they wouldn't normally use, not because other skills are necessarily overpowered, but because the skills they're not using are ridiculously situational or just plain bad." ··· Danny Pew Pew 21:44, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

Yes actually... that would be the Definition of "Random". --ilr 21:48, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

^ exactly ilr.- Zesbeer 21:59, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

No, actually. That is NOT the definition of random. Even by your own link "proceeding, made, or occurring without definite aim, reason, or pattern". What random means is, once again by your link, "characterizing a process of selection in which each item of a set has an equal probability of being chosen.". If you take skills out of the possibilities, then you are reducing the randomness of the system. Mr J 22:11, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

But if everyone always chooses the most popular skills everytime they come up, then how does that make it an Equal Probability of every skill being chosen?? --ilr 23:46, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

Hey, at least you have 2 hours of "degenerate meta" free play time. After that, be ready to deal with cookie cutter builds/shitter gimmicks. Gogo new format that's not degenerative. Karate Jesus 23:48, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

That's why I mentioned the weight system. At the end, the more likely to appear would be the crappy skills no one wants, and instead everyone using the Machine Gun and the BFG9000, we'll get into an arena in which everyone has to use the Fist weapon and the Pistol. MithTalk 12:31, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Ilr, that is the most brain-piercing thing I have ever read and is wrong on SO many levels. Firstly, it's the pool of skills which should be random, not the skills players choose to use. Patient Spirit will show up just as often (given enough time) as Supportive Spirit and thus it is random. Mr J 13:39, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Okay now I KNOW you're just trolling. Good one, ya totally got me ...which doesn't happen often --ilr 20:28, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

No, you really are wrong. Mr J 20:44, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

moo. I believe you two are discussing random at two different stages. the way Dr J. is describing it is how Regina said Robert said it is implemented: GW randomly selects 20 nonelite, 5 elite skills from the entire pool of skills from each profession every day, and makes them available for players to pick and choose from (non-randomly). I believe ilr is wanting GW to randomly assign your bar when you click 'enter', which would (mostly) turn Codex into rock-paper-scissors (without a careful implementation, i.e. ensuring you don't get four resses and one attack skill), and isn't even in the spirit of Sealed Deck (which I think I can safely assume you'd never done before Codex, otherwise you wouldn't be complaining). In short, you're complaining because people are being rational decision makers, and will always choose skill combinations which maximize their chances of success; i.e., meta is always meta. There's nothing you can do about it. — derp de derp derp a tum tee tiddly tum ta tum Maf 23:06, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

No that's not at all what I said so next time just speak for yourself, thx. ...And yes, there was plenty to be done about it since SD wouldn't have been recommended in HB/TA's place if it was as exploitable as this format is. --ilr 13:32, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

@Malchior Devenholm: I asked Robert about it this afternoon, and he told me that the skill selection for each day is random. Whether skills have been in Sealed Deck tournaments at PAX don't affect whether they will appear in the skills for the day. --Regina Buenaobra 02:02, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Thank you Regina. Is the Live Team pleased with the format and how the players are reacting to it? Will we hopefully see this transform into an AT done in the traditional 4v4 sealed deck format at the PAX events?--Malchior Devenholm 04:45, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Couldnt charm animal also res pets since you dont get every day a res skill with it. Death Sligher 15:02, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Are they happy with the players' reaction to it? Hmm....considering there have been at least 4 threads on Guru talking about hating it, several pages here talking about people hating it, other threads and pages here and in other places questioning its fundamentals, only three districts last night during a common peak time (lol), etc. I'd say they're probably not happy with its reception. It's not a bad format, but definitely not what I think players were expecting (a PvP game type that PvE'ers and PvP'ers could enjoy).

Good thing guilds aren't making cookie cutter builds and grinding it for title points alrea- .....oh wait.... Karate Jesus 13:48, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

Bwaaaaaaaaaah! BlazeRick 13:52, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

Intelligent comment based on solid reasoning and comprehension. -.- Karate Jesus 13:57, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

The real solution was balancing the game they took the shortcut or atleast what seemed to be a shortcut ? Lilondra 14:21, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

I'd have to say I do like the new format, although I think it may have been a bit of a mistake to release the day before Costume Brawl opened. I think the lack of players in Codex Arena right now is largely due to people doing Costume Brawl.--142.68.87.49 17:45, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

Forgot to sign in--Orry 17:46, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

They had to get rid of HB immediately. Not sure why that ditched Team Arena, though. Same exploit?-- anguard 18:06, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

It's not particularly helpful to measure reception by comparing the number of complaint threads to support threads: anyone in customer service can tell you that complaints always outnumber compliments by anywhere from 5:1 to 20:1 (depending on various factors). Also: we don't know whether ANet intended the new format to cater to new PvPers, veteran PvPers, or some combination.

Comparing the number of districts spawned should be a good proxy for popularity. Early in the introduction to the Zaishen challenges (before we knew the schedule), PvE mission outposts generally saw 3–6 districts on the day of a new quest. If we take into account that the availability of PvPer compared to PvEers, then seeing 3 Codex districts spawn during peak hours suggests a reasonable amount of enthusiasm.   — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 18:29, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

I definitely agree with your quantity based on the realistic proportion the PvP community makes up, but on Day1 it had 9 full districts, Day2 a steep drop to 6... and I don't need to log in right now to know it's under 4... Such dramatic decline means it's not bringing any PvE'ers or new PvP'ers into that community.
Which means that the Live team just wasted THE LAST 7 MONTHS OF WORK FOR NO REASON. And you can't just say "Oh they were SF n00b PvE'ers who weren't gonna PvP anyway, fuck 'em!". You just can't say that because we've seen first hand already what happens when a new venue is executed CORRECTLY and continuously succeeds in getting people out of degenerate routines. --ilr 21:04, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

I think it's part of GW2 "beta". Like the many other things added before. Stable, Daily Quests, Dungeons, GvG Tiebreakers, Books for rep with factions, etc. BlazeRick 22:07, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

I know for myself, and after discussing with allies/friends, that I/we tried Codex, saw the mechanics of the title, the mechanics of the format and how the player-base is interacting within it and won't be doing it again. It's "just become another PvP zone" from our prespective; it's quickly become a 'copy and pasta' environment, negativity, title requirements and the likes, which is why most of us stopped most kinds of PvP (and high-end PvE for that matter). Good effort though, I know there are others who find it's the greatest thing since sliced bread ^_^ ~~000.00.00.00~~ 22:26, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

The quantity thing makes this pretty obvious that it's not been well received. It's not surprising that the CB and ToT farming stole away from the Codex, but if it had been that good, people would still play it over the other stuff. RA, commonly, now has more districts than the Codex. If that doesn't say something about the Codex's reception, from both the PvP AND PvE communities, then I don't know what will. Karate Jesus 01:18, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

RA always had more districts than TA and HB as well - at least Codex has a varying population of players. ··· Danny Pew Pew 18:44, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

I wish they would make codex an 8v8 guild affair. 4v4 arenas that allow players to decide the full party configuration have never been popular. Anet needs to work their new features around things that work, such as RA, CMs, AB, CB, GvG and to an extent HA. ~Pika 152.226.7.202 01:52, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

Lazy Pika no sign in? And you're right, 4v4 with the ability to pre-config a team has always been unpopular, mainly because it is inherently degenerative. 6v6 or 8v8 would have been smarter (I would have liked to see 6v6) or it should have had more of a random aspect to it. Meh. Oh well, we all know Anet isn't into admitting fault, so get used to it. Karate Jesus 02:30, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

lol6v6 PvP. Forgot about the 6v6 HA fiasco? Pika Fan 06:37, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

Thereason they chose 4 peeps is because its easier to set up but like I thought we immediatly get to see how CA is broken :) GOGOGO USE THAT HONORABLE EDA BU...owait Lilondra 06:48, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

I haven't forgotten about the 6v6 HA shitfest, but I'm suggesting that if the format had been different AND the teams had been bigger (maybe even 5 like CB) then it could have been less of a degenerative, cookie-cutter, title whorefest. Karate Jesus 16:08, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

GW has been a titlefest for a few years now. A new format isn;t going to change that. If you can't do with guildies what others can do, then just don't. Feels like reading "BWAH I can;t HA cus I has no Bambi". BlazeRick 16:26, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

I'd argue that it's closer to people complaining about not being able to get champ titles, but the GvG ladder is a joke now so meh. ··· Danny Pew Pew 18:44, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

i think its the lack of skills if they add 2x the amount of skills and had it change every other day i think it would be better. also pvp skills in that areana are fail, along with skills that require spirits or minions and having none is quite fail imho.- Zesbeer 23:08, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

The problem is that in a normal arena you have all the resources you need.Basicly you can take any direction.Be it hexway,gimmickway,othergimmickway,otherothergimmickway,anothergimmickway or relativly balanced.So every team has condition removal,DW,hex removal,... almost every team has knockdown,enchant removal,... . Basicly these are things you *need* to have a decent game going.I don't mind taking lacerating chop but if you have no dismember there is no point.I think that by design assassins and dervs are more likely to be chosen because of the lack of DW warriors often have.So if a "honorable" arena instantly points towards gimmicks thats a really bad start.You need to give every profession X amount of codex skills they get w/e happens and X amount of skills that they can't have.Now many will contest the second but think about it some skills are just to much of terrible terribleness to ever be used,EVER (I'm referring to skills like mending).Lilondra 06:57, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

Either that, or run Codex the way we all thought it would run. An entire team given a deck of skills from which 4 bars must be made. But that would slow down match frequency. I just hope the sanctioned system is used if we happen to get Codex ATs. That will require alot more skill to make bars on a random set of ALL SKILLS than 20 in one profession. And there will be no build of the day, as each team gets a different randomization in the deck.--Malchior Devenholm 13:54, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that would be harder to code and I'm also sure peeps would just rezone till they get a suiting deck.I'm also sure that if they weren't able torezone they would simply get outbuilt by other peeps because they got EDA and you got no viable condition removal Lilondra 07:01, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Small Thanks

I am sure many not on the Live Team contributed to the awesomeness of the new Halloween content, but I particularly wanted to thank the skill icon artist. I really like the skill icons for the new skills. I know putting "action" into such a small space can be hard, but whoever designed the new ones did a great job. Please pass it along. :) --Ravious 15:58, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

Firstly, I'm pretty sure those are old stock icons. I could be wrong, mind you, but I know for a fact that there are a lot of icons that have just never gotten used (though, to be fair, a good chunk of that number are just different color schemes). Secondly, if there is is a message to pass along, could you do me a big favor and ask if they can put them somewhere? >_> It'd help me out a lot, I'm beautifying the wiki skill icons, and lossy compression is baed for you, liek socialism. –Jette 16:55, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

Socialism lulz. Hf with losing an arm and a leg or, spending either of them to preserve one. BlazeRick 18:08, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

I wonder what margin one can have to adapt, if he restrict himself to one extreme or the other. Yseron - 90.48.131.185 18:26, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

That was either a terrible logicfail or you're quoting someone who didn't fully think that one out. ··· Danny Pew Pew 20:33, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

Can you remind me which country rushed into an economic crisis because of abusive money speculations ? Yseron - 90.28.82.214 19:43, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, Jette, I especially like the Agent of the Mad King icon (which I seriously doubt was an old stock icon. I wouldn't mind a high quality version of it. Be a fun forum avatar. --Ravious 18:15, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

Actually, you might be surprised. A lot of Halloween icons existed before this. Also, I dunno what socialism really is, but I hear it's pretty bad. Almost as bad as AIDS. –Jette 19:29, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

Well, people yell out lolsocialismbaed because they can't get it through their thick heads that (partially(!)) government regulated/owned health care really is for the best. And it saves money on the long run, too. Change! But yeah, who cares. Silly topic. BlazeRick 22:13, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Bahltek

any possibility that we could learn more about him? ~ Dregoloth 20:23, 30 October 2009 (UTC)dregoloth

[edit] So?

whats with the anet gvg guild? : DDDD what role will you play for example and how is it going? : OOOOO - Wuhy 23:21, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

ps. I saw the anet halloween pics and you are doinitrite :O - Wuhy 02:28, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

lol reggie does not answer me because she is very evil and ruthless. - Wuhy 15:06, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] My praise

My first point is my thanks to all the ArenaNet staff for a great Halloween. The decorations were fabulous, as always, the Costume Brawl was still amazing, the quests were fun yet very challenging and the arrival of King Thorn was the good old traditional arrival, with some great new masks-I was simply blown away. Thank you to all the staff for a superb delivery of the event.

I would also like to commend ArenaNet for their kindness-The ArenaNet wish. That was amazingly kind of you, letting a young girl with a failing heart into ArenaNet towers for a tour, and letting her test GW2. I escpecially liked the part i read where you rewrote the game just to include one small item, just to make it more special for her. You should be very very proud of yourselves.--Burning Freebies 11:49, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for reminding us Burning Freebies. We praise far too seldom, so I'd just like to add my praise on both accounts too. Guild Wars is the only game that has continuously captivated me for such a long period of time (2 years and counting). So while most of my comments here may be about things I don't like, I still love and most important, still enjoy the game.

- Kherec 09:04, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Question about the Test Krewe NDA

→ moved from Feedback talk:Linsey Murdock

I'm interested in participating in the Test Krewe, but I'm concerned that, if the NDA lasts too long, it would interfere with my ability to participate in the feedback namespace. Is the Test Krewe NDA available online? If not, could you provide some information on the NDA's duration / expiration clauses, or would I need to apply and get selected in order to get further information about the NDA? -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 08:00, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

Also, when will we know that crew selection is complete? It says you can't contact everyone who signed up, but it'd be good if we knew when the process was complete. —Jette 08:03, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

Well, like all thins ANet does, it will be done when it's done. I'll expect an general announcement saying the period within we should expect the emails, and once that period ends, you would know for sure if you are in or not: if you received the email, you are in, if you did not, you are out. At least the last zillion times I had something to do with something similar it was like that. MithTalk 13:14, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

This was really a question for Regina. - Linsey talk 05:43, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

In light of the Live Krewe already being chosen and the NDA being sent to each of these people personally, this question seems to have been answered. -- Salome 23:23, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Bit slow seeing this and answering, but.... I can tell you, having signed the NDA for previous testing as well as current, that there is no expiry. An NDA does not only last for the duration that you take part in the test, but for ever after. By signing you are agreeing that you will never reveal anything without ANet permission. This does not prevent joining in with feedback though. As long as you are not commenting on something that you know from testing but isn't known in the public domain, either via the game or through release by ANet. Muppet 22:18, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Yeah but there's really no point in maintaining NDA's over trivia or features that actually went Live once the beta ended. At that point it's only the privacy of other users and a few rare exploits or off-the-cuff comments that should remain covered by it afterwards... --ilr 22:39, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] hai Linsey

→ moved from Feedback talk:Linsey Murdock

If I redid all the PvP-viable skill icons that are available for players to actually place on their bar, except the res sig and a select number of others, would you guys consider updating the in-game skill icons? I'll do them at the standard 56x56 in-game resolution. The default in-game icons are kinda cruddy.  :/ The sharpening seemed rushed, and there's a lot of noise that could have been avoided. I'm mostly done with them at 112x112, so 56x56 shouldn't be that hard to do. Also: if you wanted to upload all the icons that aren't usually available for people to view in hi-res (those that weren't in the skill icons pack, such as this one), it would make me happy. I know you have them stashed somewhere, but the artists who made them haven't responded to my e-mails.  :( —Jette 09:08, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

Duuuude, I would love this. Having to run TexMod just to get some slightly better default skill icons seems sucky, the really rough Elite frame and the gry areas surrounding the actual skill art are horrible and I've always wondered why they made the Elite frame so rough and the gray area so blurry. It makes it really hard to tell what some of the skill icons are :(. DarkNecrid 09:19, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

I would be overjoyed if ANet changed the default interface to the Glazed mod, but what I'm talking about is just the skill icons. They would look better, to be sure, but they would be the same icons, same size and no change to the interface. —Jette 10:14, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

The frames make the icons not look flat. It reminds me of those rings with pictures personally, and considering the origin of the skills, that's probably a good thing. And you want skill icons to be 4 times bigger or what? I don't want to see the return of that stupid hourglass thingy, I want my skill icons to load fast. The only icons that are not "sharp" is a few Prophecies ones, but you'll probably only notice it if you're running a big interface... — Poki#3 (talk) 07:44, 14 September 2009 (UTC)

Meh. It's not that important to me, mostly I'm just asking because I'm making a 56x56 mod anyway for some people I know, and if ANet wanted them (I'm not on a time constraint, so they will look better) they could have them, so that A) he doesn't have to run the mod and B) they look nicer for everyone. All in all, I doubt it will be implemented, since it'd probably a lot of extra files for people to download. Can't hurt to ask, though.

And no, unless Linsey or somebody else specifically asked me to do it, I wouldn't have make them 112x112 or 224x224 for the "official" icons, because that's much larger than the default interface, and it has to be designed to suit the smallest available resolution (I believe in this case that's 800x600). My monitor is 1280x1024, and I'm upgrading to 1920x1080 sometime soon, so obviously my interface is a bit bigger than the default, skill icons especially.

What makes my icons better is all of the following: first, I remove the JPEG artifacts with a proprietary tool (I should certainly hope the artists who made the icons had the sense to send them in .png format, rather than jpeg... the point is that I do it, though), then I resize them to the desired resolution, then denoise as necessary (usually a lot), then LAB smart sharpen (or unsharp mask sometimes, but much more often the smart function is better), increase saturation on the A & B channels when necessary (not often), increase the border to 1/7th the icon size (thus, a 56x56 icon needs a 4-pixel border on each side, though the color isn't important, leaving a 64x64 picture), then coloring to alpha (this is the step 99% of people miss, which is why their icons don't "flash" correctly, such as when they're casted or interrupted). I think ANet did this process rather hastily, most likely by using a poor resampling function and then oversharpening, which makes them look sorta cruddy.  :/ I also assume they use the .dds file format, which means they probably compressed the files. Aside from leaving block-shaped artifacts, that also means that despite the reduced file size, it actually takes longer for a GPU to render them, since it has to decompress them. For files that receive so little benefit from lossy compression in the first place due to their small resolution, the best compression is actually no compression at all if you intend to put the icons in a graphics-intensive program. Actually, I'm just kidding, I have no idea of what I'm talking about.  :3 —Jette 07:58, 14 September 2009 (UTC)

Well I'm pretty sure that I can say that no one wants "your" icon mod. Even if Lindsey or someone else at ArenaNet would add an "icon overhaul" project to the "to do" list, they would do it themselves, using the assets they have at the office. Asking them "Hey, do you want to use this thing I made in your game" will give you a "no" every time. I'm kind of overusing "quotes" I think... — Poki#3 (talk) 09:25, 14 September 2009 (UTC)

I wouldn't be so sure Poki. Jette isn't talking about a mod, just about a series of upgraded images. These images are already the property of ArenaNet, so there is no copyright issue, and if it works out to simply be a matter of uploading this new set of images onto the server, and they are indeed better suited and better quality, I don't see why ArenaNet wouldn't happily accept them. Jette is not looking for credit/compensation, just doing this for the love of the game. -- Wyn talk 09:56, 14 September 2009 (UTC)

Ya, I gotta agree with Wyn here, idk why you think they'd just automatically turn this down. ^^ Plus he does good work (edit: maybe a good comparison on how it'd look vs current would help Jette? :D). DarkNecrid 14:29, 14 September 2009 (UTC)

I think you should better ask Joe for technical and performance limitations of the engine. BigBluetalk 17:05, 14 September 2009 (UTC)

Well, Poki kind of has a point, the difference is rather negligible at 56x56. But as you can see here, it's still apparent when compared. Mine's on the left, the in-game version (ripped with texmod) is on the right. The only advantage the original has over mine is the lack of that ugly border on the edges, which is one of the advantages of using the original art rather than icons cut from the skill card packages released some time ago. The jpeg compression sort of "fused" the silver border with the edges of the image. I could probably remove it manually, but it would take a long time to do that for every image, and since that part of the icon isn't visible in-game anyway, I didn't really think it was worth the effort. Obviously, I skipped the last step here and didn't convert black to transparency, otherwise it would look really weird. —Jette 21:01, 14 September 2009 (UTC)

No offense, but I didn't see enough of a difference between the two images at 32bbp 1680x1050 to make it worth the effort. There was some difference, yes, but not enough for me to care (or probably the vast majority of the userbase), since I don't stare at my icons all day long, I click on them (once in awhile) or hit numbers on my keyboard (more likely). I use the largest interface setting by the way, and if those are used on the smallest or default UI setting, the difference won't be noticeable at all during the actual game. This last sentence I wrote is especially true of anyone using widescreen LCD monitors. The difference was much more noticeable on CRT monitors at resolutions equal to or lower than 1152x864 though.-thejynxed- 16:46, 4 October 2009 (UTC)

I don't really see a project like this being feasible, but you could see if Regina or Martin wants to take it up as a Community project. - Linsey talk 06:48, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] As we near the 7 month anniversary of the XTH being down...

Will we hear anything.....at all?.....just a tiny bit of info? Karate Jesus 20:50, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Forget Forget ! Forget ? Lilondra 20:27, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

I don't want to forget! Noes! Karate Jesus 20:35, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

10 e she does answer like that Lilondra 20:37, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

If we're both betting on the same side, how do we win money? And I hope not. It's been down for a loooong time without information and how long ago did we hear that they had the correct number of points? 2 months ago? Karate Jesus 20:43, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

The Waiting Game Lilondra 20:56, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Rewards: ToT bags, UW scroll, and....OUR TRPs?! WHAT?! Lol. Karate Jesus 20:58, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Lyssa was the Greek goddess of rabies and mad rage, but also a zombie?

Anyway might be farfetched idea but I came to this conclusion thru vaccins.

I can't find documentation on what the inspiration for zombies was, but this is what I think was the inspiration for it. Earlier today I checked wich vaccines cats need, and I saw rabies between all the other stuff. Searched the net about the condition, learned how it spreads (bites, scratches, licks), what it is (a viral neuroinvasive disease that causes inflammation of the brain).

What do zombies do? they bite, wich causes there victim to turn into a zombie once death has occured (they come back to life once they have died in most movies, books, etc...), the typical zombie likes eating brains. Can you see the similarities?

Now why do I think Lyssa is an evil zombie? Because I read stuff about rabies?

Well here is the Etymology of the word rabies (taken from wikipedia):

"The term is derived from the Latin rabies, "madness". This, in turn, may be related to the Sanskrit rabhas, "to do violence". The Greeks derived the word "lyssa", from "lud" or "violent"; this root is used in the name of the genus of rabies lyssavirus."

Anyway if I would go further with my story it would end with a question like this: If she is an evil zombie goddess goeing on a rampage, would carrying the skill Frenzy fool Lyssa, making her ignore you? is frenzy a savior or will she spot the difference?

You don't have to answer anything, but getting an answer to the last question would be nice. Anyway this is just a "for fun thing" not something serious :D. Qaletaqa Hania 22:55, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Hilarious. Rypofalem 23:05, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

1. Mutated viral strains of rabies and mad cow disease are the two most common explanations for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. None of that matters though, considering that it's a game and the devs can give whatever fucking explanation they want for zombies (Orr and all that).
2. Lyssa was the goddess of madness, not necessarily rabies. Whoever made that addition to Wikipedia (lolwikipedia) obviously gave the ancient Greeks too much credit on their medical prowess. "Diseases" weren't fully understood in antiquity and people or animals who had contracted rabies would most likely have been considered possessed. A rudimentary understanding of how rabies was transfered was understood even prior to parchment writings, but that does not mean that they understood what it was, how to treat it, or how it affected living beings (and it definitely wasn't called "rabies" considering that the name itself has a Latin route). Lyssa is just the explanation for psychoses that they had no other way to explain.
3. wut?

Karate Jesus 23:14, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Unless he was secretly banging Lyssa on the side... Abbadon was the only one fitting that Cannon --ilr 23:21, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

@Party pooper aka. Karate Jesus: You know how rabies looks when an animal gets it? they bite, they go.... well mad. Don't know about people tho. Anyway here is a second story you might wanna analyze for.... inaccuracies:

The chameleon with a hart of glass is telling you to be creative and also thinks a 7 legged dog with 17 fingers and one foot is controlling this colourful universe with eggs in the shape of bunnies is doeing nothing else then playing with spaghetti that is laughing because the night is a kiwi shaped like a giraffe and the day is a banana with a claw.

That is to show how serious I am on certain days... and yes I write crap like that to say hello to my little friend called "twoobietingledoe" wich is living in my brain. Lighting up :). Qaletaqa Hania 23:44, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Oh, sorry, I thought it was obvious that I was joking (being overly serious toward an obviously joking post = sarcasm). Was I not? Oh, and yes, I've seen rabid animals (many times). Got bit once. I don't recommend the shots....they hurt. Karate Jesus 23:46, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

I am also still joking alltho I thought you were beeing serious :), happens alot to me. Aspie for Life as you already know. Qaletaqa Hania 23:48, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Haha, and here I thought I was taking too much Berkeley. You guys really need to lay off the white stuff. –Jette 23:50, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Pure brain matter, no white stuff or any other drugs involved, pure grey brain matter. Qaletaqa Hania 23:57, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Manu Ginobili would agree with you about the shots, KJ. If you don't know who that is, just google it. Also, I hope you realize the Lyssa was the Greek goddess of rabies and mad rage, which would explain why the virus was called rabies lyssavirus. 74.50.104.2 00:27, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Would be a fun halloween event, think about it: This year Lyssa, the Greek zombie goddess of rabies and mad rage has come to spread terror and fear amongst the puny little insects.... ok ok people that have been playing Mad King's little games the previous years. I'll make them eat brains.... I mean carrots and give them awful tasting homemade potions named euhm....... chocolate milk? Qaletaqa Hania 00:05, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Actually, the original zombie legend came from the West Indies. Modern interpretations of the legend seem to basically boil down to drugged slaves. The John Romero-style infection-through-being-bitten zombies are a fairly recent variety of zombies that don't really bear a close resemblance to the term's mythological origins. Draxynnic 09:29, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Yeah thats what some say, but I didn't wanna know where the original legend came from and I highly doubt that it came from the West Indies, there are older cultures wich have legends and myths about "the living dead", now if they are the inspiration for modern day zombies I don't know and I highly doubt there is someone that trully is sure. This was just a bit of fun I had with the thoughts I had about everything I read when reading about rabies. Qaletaqa Hania 20:14, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

The more important question here is: Are mummies just zombies with cloth wrappings? 74.50.104.2 23:53, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Dreadspawn Maw

Could it be a reference to the original Sarlacc Pit? - J.P.Talk 02:30, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Ponos Fett ... j j jam it in .....(iow: this discussion is fraught with peril and should be avoided) --ilr 08:43, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Anything you can do ...

And no, I'm not going to talk about the norn-quest, I'm going to bring up the subject of your attempts to stave off speedclear efficiency and how it is affecting everyone else.

Farming builds utilize game mechanics to it's full potential, gaining efficiency at an exponential rate doing so compared to normal builds using the same mechanics. By going after farming builds, you are forced to come up with combinations that break those mechanics, or to simply pull out all the stops in terms of damage done or enemies spawned. This usually hits the people playing the game normally like a sledgehammer, while merely inconveniences farmers, at the very best just slows them down.

To take the recent changes to The Underworld. The skeletons were a detriment for solo-assassins relying on Shadow Form to survive, but in no means a deal-breaker. Farming builds easily adjust to this to work around it, with just some minor setbacks as far as time was concerned. You also changed the spawns for some of the quests, forcing normal parties to split up into two groups more often. Again, farming builds can easily adapt to further split, while the regular teams are not as fortunate. For most normal teams splitting up while still facing strong enemies is harsh. Normal teams don't have the luxory of having near invulnerable party members to care for, but instead they are under extreme pressure having to heal and protect everyone.

Farmers already go through these areas faster than normal teams, aquire better drops than you would completing the whole thing in a party. Speedclear teams also reap the rewards a lot faster than normal teams, hence why they occur in the first place. The problem is that the changes doesn't cause a detriment to do speedclears, it in fact gives you more and more reasons to. By making normal play even harder and speedclears just mildly affected, you're increasing the value of speedclears as they'll be even more time-efficient comparably speaking. Not to mention easier than normal play, again, comparably speaking.

Elite areas are barely worth it for their special drops as it is. They are high-end farming zones, because normal play through these areas rarely give enough special drops to make it worthwhile. It's not uncommon to only get a handful of ectos for the entire party, while finishing all the quests. For a normal party it takes a couple of hours, perhaps even more. To come out of that with perhaps just that one ecto from the end-chest is hardly inspiring. That's of course only if you actually finish. Should you fall on one of the many deal-breakers in The Underworld and fail before finishing, you more often than not end up with nothing, despite having finished several quests.

Now I have no idea how to give elite areas back to the people, without allowing farmers and speedclears unchecked access to the goodies. But as it stands, I just want it to pay off to strike up an alliance party with normal people and trudge through The Underworld for a few hours ... not everyone likes to farm.

I would like to hear your view on this Regina, as a community manager.
- Kherec 12:44, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

I agree completely. I said this over on the skeletons of Dhuum page, and I'll say it here: permanent invincibility is a BAD THING. It's not a problem with the Underworld. It's a problem with shadowform and the supporting skills that allow an individual to achieve permanent invincibility. And as I said over there - I want to know if this sort of negligence [with regard to balance and game mechanics] is symptomatic of all of Anet and NCsoft games or just GW1... because I have no interest in playing GW2 if all I have to look forward to is a single outpost filled with "Charr W/mo R9+ reputation gimmick build only for SC" while the rest of the game is completely empty. 65.207.54.194 15:27, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Agreed. Of course it is impossible to balance any area around an invincibility skill such as Shadow Form, it will hurt everyone else more than the farmers - I play Monk, oh look at how happy I am when my Protection spells do absolutely nothing to help my team against skeletons. It's very simple, they would just need to nerf Shadow Form and any other potential subsititutes (Obby Flesh, etc, I dunno), but it seems like a 'political' decision towards the community...--Sensei 16:59, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Yep, but they dont nerf it at the moment so it seems they have profit from it if people keep SC while it keeps them ingame and they won't lose players who are gone play other MMO's I guess. Which also use tactics to keep players in their games. So they say nerfing SF is no option but slowing it down can be done. Since people will keep farming anyway. Because if they slow it down it is slowed down for all farmers. So they dont stop farming. But if they nerf it they maybe quit the game. Death Sligher 20:17, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

They've barely slowed it down at all, and it won't be long before a new UWSC build is put together to buildwars the skeletons. The high-end PvE community is, if nothing else, creative and determined. 74.50.104.2 21:07, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

This game isn't like other MMO's with degenerate camping & farming though... --ilr 09:48, 12 November 2009 (UTC) ___ ← moved to Feedback_talk:User/Ilr (discussion way off topic with ad hominem chatter)

[edit] SRO and GW Skill Icons Usage

Just bringing this to your attention, Silkroad Online, a popular "Free 2 Play" MMO that stays afloat by using a cash shop was recently posted on Guru to be using skill icons PRETTY similar to Guild Wars. It looks like they are nearly the exact same except changed in little ways and considering one of them is literally a World of Warcraft skill icon but with some extra lines added to it, I wouldn't be surprised. Here's a few examples! Not all of them resemble GW Icons but to point out a few, top row 1st one = Aftershock, 3rd row 3rd one = Smite Hex, 5th row 4th one = Ravenous Gaze, Reverse Hex, Executioner's Strike, and Winter. Since they get profit off this game, thought I'd bring it to your attention just in case. ^^ DarkNecrid 00:17, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

I shrank the icons and made a comparison, they aren't replicas. They are similar, especially the aftershock one, but not identical. The artists probably took some inspiration from GW icons or any of the other million MMO/fantasy game icons out there. –Jette 00:32, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

As an aside, this Defense of the Ancients hero (a custom map for Warcraft, Frozen Throne, in case you didn't know) uses the Conjure Phantasm icon for their ultimate skill, Haunt: [1]. King Neoterikos 02:57, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

Sue them! GOGOGO. Or just...you know...threaten a suit for copyright infringement so they'll remove it. Karate Jesus 02:59, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

Alternatively, they could just be not dicks and pretend they don't know about it because ruining some stupid kids' fun is totally worth the $20,000.00 it takes just to write a letter involving the word "lawsuit." Besides, didn't you know? Changing the colors and using the JPEG compression method changes the file sufficiently that it's considered an original work, even though everyone knows it's bullshit. I can prove it, too: run it through a hash sum, it'll be totally different. –Jette 04:25, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

SRO isn't made by a stupid kid, it's made by a popular Korean company. :p And Icefrog is an adult working at Valve now, but I believe it's "ok" that he uses GW images in DotA because he does not receive any profit from DotA, King Neo. DarkNecrid 04:57, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

That's true. King Neoterikos 06:44, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Armor Greens

Will the hero armor green drops (Primeval, Deldrimor) be affected for this weekend's event (double elite cap exp and double green drops)--Sageofprofession 17:35, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

The details say green items from bosses. King Neoterikos 23:00, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] 2 quick suggestions

Hey, I'm not sure who exactly to contact about this, but I had two ideas which I think would make a lot of people happy, and I don't think would be too hard to implement. First of all, I realize that it's impossible for items which have multiple uses (like kegs of ale) to stack regularly, but would it be too hard to make it so only full kegs stacked? I know a lot of people, like me, have multiple full kegs in storage waiting to be used, and they take up a LOT of room. Perhaps slightly-used kegs couldn't be stacked, but ones with 50 uses could be. Furthermore, I know the idea of a mod-and-inscription trader has been brought up before, but it's difficult to implement because not all mods are max or whatnot. How about if the trader only bought and sold "perfect" mods and inscriptions, such as 15^50 (not 14^50) or HCT 20% (not 19% or 18% etc). I think it would make life a lot easier for many people, especially those who stand around for hours in port cities spamming WTB a certain mod in vain. It would alleviate a lot of spam in those districts and clear it up a bit for people selling other, non-traderable things. Anyways, sorry for the long post, but I've just been thinking about these for a while and wanted to send them in. I know most of Anet's efforts are going towards GW2 right now, but I think these might be simple enough changes that would make a big difference. Thank you for reading! Ailina 20:54, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

This is what your looking for - [2]. Tidas 21:15, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

You're pretty quick on the buzzer there buddy, but Your article link would be more helpful if it was more like this: >>__Feedback:Getting started__<< --ilr 21:40, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, learn something new everyday, nice link code, I'll try to remember that. Tidas 22:59, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Skill Balance for November 2009

I know you've all been pretty busy working on multiple projects lately but I was just wondering when we'd hear about the upcoming skills balance. It was posted that we're see portions of the updates changes a month in advance. October was quite busy with the Halloween updates so I was just wondering will we see the updates ahead of time this month or will be just get the update in the next few weeks (or next month) without warning. Usually y'all have the updates out within the first 1-2 weeks of a month but that time has come and past. Since skill updates have become bimonthly, it seems likes it's been forever since the last. Thanks in advance, Magic Talk 22:06, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

I thought the skill balance updates were every 2 months now? --Robot 00:28, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

it is but we are supposed to have a suggested skill update and we should have had it about 2 weeks ago as that was the whole point of going to a 2 monthly cycle rather than 1 monthly cycle. -- Salome 00:53, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Wait until January. They're enjoying the new Bspike/Sway meta too much. (and if you're thinking, "Wait, didn't they nerf those." No...they didn't. They only thought they did....) Karate Jesus 00:57, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

@Robot: Last update was in September. Magic Talk 01:52, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

I was actually thinking that for Sway, I knew bspike was back in its latest mesmer related form but didn't think sway was, then again sway is always back, just shows I've been obsing too much gvg and not enough halls lately. Tidas 02:01, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

I don't know why you'd want to obs tbh most of the time its the shame !!!! playing with the same !!! build against the same semi-active !!!! guild.Most of the time I just use it to talk to some friends lol :p Lilondra 19:45, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Not saying anything about the skill update won't make players feel connected with you arenanet! --Boro 13:55, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Personally I liked the new builds, even if they screwed some things up sometimes. But then again.. if they don't try, how do they know things won't get better. There have been some skills they've changed in the past and made them much better then what they were. I wish it was still monthly. Constantly creating and updating my builds was fun imo. Magic Talk 17:11, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

The design work on this continues to progress. There are a couple other projects that Live Team are working on that are planned for a future update (which I am not permitted to talk about yet), and juggling those different projects impacts time spent on a skill balance. I want to reassure you that progress is being made on this, however (for what it's worth). --Regina Buenaobra 20:53, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Can we still expect to hear a preview of the changes a month ahead of time, or are you guys waiting for the Test Krewe for that? Karate Jesus 21:06, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply Regina. Magic Talk 01:06, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

New Halls map and GvG tier. BlazeRick 20:14, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Guild Wars losing players, poor chices, and all when the end is near.

Ok, I'm not sure if Im in the right place or not, but I have been waiting for linsey to log on so I can talk to her for a while now. I am not sure why the recent changes to the game have been happening, but I and many others are really are not happy. I fail to understand when many people are going back to wow or moving on to aion and other games, why anet/gw would make changes to the game that only cause more people to leave. I love gw, and have played for a long time, at this point Im having trouble staying loyal to the game and thinking that gw2 will not be a game I buy. It has alway been a complaint and a frustration for many that it is hard to make money and get things done in game due to the time and ability, i.e. zrank 20,000 keys. I have seen about 15 friend leave the game in the last month, not counting the people that I enjoyed playing with over the years leave cause they just get frustrated. With gw2 coming out soon and people trying hard to get there titles done, buy armor, get weapons, and other things. why would anet/gw make game play harder and much more costly. Most people have a hard time getting enough ectos at 4 to 5k, now ectos are costing even more. It's difficult to get one character elite armor from fow for the majority of the players, now you are making it harder, more costly, and to time consuming. Why would people want to play a game in which it is to hard to build there characters up and get the things offered in the game. One goal I had early on in the game was to get my sweet title, not knowing what I was getting into I spent a lot of time farming for sweets during the holidays. It took years and hours and hours of farming, and I still had to end up buying some of the sweets in game. If a title or something is offered, why is it unreasonable to spend time getting on days offering drops to be able to reach your gaol. Why play a game that makes it next to impossible to accomplish the things offered in the game for just one character, let alone if you want to build up many charaters. Anyone can create a character that can farm, making the game fair to almost all players, so why would you take away farm runs, or easier ways to get stuff or accomplish things in the game. Many people are just throwing up there hands and quiting the game cause the costs are being driven through the roof or it's being made harder to do it by playing the game. This is a game that is suppose to be fun, people like to build up the different characters they have, they like having certain weapons, mini's, and title. What is the time and cost of getting elite armor from fow, what if you have two or three character you like and want elite armor for, what if you want those charaters to have titles, what if you want this charater to have this weapon or that? Don't you think that 500 ectos for one weapon is a lot to ask or going to force people that want them to turn to buying gold and ectos from online companyies? Keg farming was taking away, which cause less characters to being able to farm, not finding ways to make more characters able to farm. So, should I, who wants to work on my ranger, sin, derv, and necro have to move to building up an ele, tracking down all the skill, spending more gold on armor and weapons this late in the game so I can keep working on sweets, wisdom, and tresure hunter titles? Why should I or anyone play a game that is next to impossible to do or accomplish the things offered in the game? I love gw, but I am at the point of giving up on the game, and Im tried of making friends with people in the game only to watch them get frustrated and quit. These seem like poor choices anet and all of you are making when the game is nearing its evalution to gw2. I thought that at the 4 year changes you were starting to see that for most of the people that play with the time they have, that the game was more then a bit unfair. I'm certainly glad I didn't buy any extra character slots at this point, for why should I when I can't even get the things done with the characters I have. I'm not shocked that people have stopped playing and moved on to other things. Why are the cost being driven up, skills being change, not just fixing bugs, this late in the game. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:Wild Ranger Drizzit (talk).

One of our GW2 designers, who isn't sure how or where you got his email, actually forwarded me your message on Monday. Thanks very much for your detailed feedback, and we'll take that on board.

We appreciate that you took the time to send our designer a private message as well as post the same message on my wiki page to ensure we got it. In general, we would prefer that if you do send an email, it goes to community@arena.net, so we can route it to the correct people. The designer you contacted doesn't work on GW1. --Regina Buenaobra 20:17, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

FFS people, if you're gonna rant, atleast use a readable format Well that's terrific, this TL;DR crap gets a response but the questions about green remnants and next skill update's notes go unanswered... --ilr 20:28, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Have you heard of the other half of the game? It's called PvP. Try that for a change of pace. Also, prices of materials, runes, dyes, etc are all based on the player. They change due to supply and demand. Anet really doesn't have anything to do with those. King Neoterikos 22:11, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, I could easily create an equally sized rant on how awful what I just read was, but it's late so instead I'll make it into bullet points.

• Use indents and paragraphs, please, it will make it easier for people to be able to disagree with you.
• If all titles were easy to get, you would reach a point where you had nothing to do.
• Noone is forcing you to get titles, of minipets or fow armour, I recently got my first set of fow armour after three and a half years of playing, after which I didn't start crying because I didn't already have fifteen sets and a stack of ambraces.
• Ectos used to be higher in price, they were pretty stable at eight thousand five hundred when I first got into that market, and guess what, people were still playing and getting their fow armour and the like, I've heard it used to be higher than that still.
• A great way to contact Linsey is to post this on someone else's page.
• All of the high end content such as minipets, armour and weapons are meant to be prestigious, and your 'I want it now' attitude will get you absolutely nowhere.

Feel free to leave the game, you won't be surely missed, Good Night. Tidas 00:22, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

That's true, I've never read someone in team chat or all chat or whatever chat making someone feel bad because they don't have fow armour, or any other item of prestige. I never realised that. --smøni 00:31, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

I didn't read any of that....mainly because it's too big, but lolhaveyouheard?bigguildsaredisbanding. I was kinda hoping the dying process would have taken longer :/ Karate Jesus 03:03, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

To get gw back into shape alot would need to be done.But they just don't have the resources so obv the game is dying Lilondra 05:32, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Did you know that on plan 9 you can mount an ftp server as a file system? Isn't that crazy? It works just like a hard drive! The only difference you or any of your programs will notice is the fetching speed.

On a related topic, thank you, MASTER OF THE OBVIOUS (and oft-stated, and oft-ignored). –Jette 05:51, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes many people (like me) have left Guild Wars. Its not because of any lack of "responsibility" from AreanaNet but rather the fact that no game can provide limitless hours of playing time. Most players have either quit, or just PvP. ArenaNet does not have to have a game content every year because there is no subscription model. Guild Wars is a pay once play forever type game so you cannot except the level of content found in a game like World of Warcraft or Aion because they have subscriptions.

Plus no one is forcing you to buy GW2, its your choice. They are currently working hard on it, and like Final Fantasy 13 it will get here when it gets here. So until then play another game, get your titles up, PvP or do whatever you want -- except blame ArenaNet which has almost nothing to do with it. --Dominator Matrix 08:59, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

this game is geared towards the young and jobless markets...we...people that work DO WORK WEEK ENDS do NOT benefit from the "special weekends" why not have it the ENTIRE WEEK? As for as elite speed clears....i dont really care either way what happens there i dont really do them when you finally do learn it NERF! oh well move to farming i say or accomplish your titles. Anet has stated that there will be no mmore new content unless deemed fit. true there are alot of story lines that could use a better ending or made more elaborate. but since Anet has pulled 100% OF THERE TEAMS TO gw2 unless UNLESS something really strikes their fancy then they might spend the 50 days and nights putting in something new. i do wish they would add alot more to the orignal GW because GW2 will not use a mouse just the keyboard. im not hip to that so when i accomplish all that i can in the original i most likey wont get GW2 unless they put the mouse back in. i really love GW and to be honest its the only MMO i ver played and been playing well over 4.5 years. i know they kinda screwed up on the game engines or they used what was available at the time of release and it cant be carried over or patched to GW2 that im sorry for. i wish it could be. i dont want to leave the game, but when i have had over 60 people i played with on a daily/weekly basis leave just this year alone i get a lil sad. i dont like WOW and i dont make enough to pay for a monthly subscription for aion. i have to work nearly 6 days a week full time and a second parttime job just to feed a family of 3, im not alone in this take a poll. for the working people we get left out of just about all the "good stuff" cause its offered on weekends only.....AGAIN why not make that the entire week, so many of us can participate. there more i like to say but i just got home from work and have to get 4 hours of sleep b4 going to the next job. maybe i can type more then..... --The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:Talo Highpriest (talk).

When I read this...I can't delay to answer...I've been playing Guild Wars for 3 years and I must say that it's the game that'll last forever inside me. I never really got bored of it. I needed a few refreshments so I bought WoW and Aion to check them out. I've stayed on WoW for 3 months,stayed on Aion for a month and you know why? Some people cannot afford to pay for a game every month,even though they want to play it. And that's why GW lasts forever for me,because even if I leave it for a month or two,I always come back to it.GW compared to other MMO's has a lot of qualities. First of all it's simple,then we have extremely smooth movement,smooth moves,smooth combat,beautiful graphics,music,sounds.I was really disappointed with Aion,I expected a lot more.

It's your choice if you don't want to play GW...and stop complaining. ANet really done a great service with putting no fees to both GW and GW2. 93.86.31.184 10:57, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

"Anet has pulled 100% OF THERE TEAMS TO gw2" When you include blatant falsehoods in your comments, it's hard to take any of it seriously. The Live Team is 100% dedicated to working on GW, and has little if anything to do with GW2. Not only that, but they added an additional full-time designer to the Live Team in August. As for adding new content, well, we have all sorts of new content, the new Codex Arena, the PvP henchmen, all the new Halloween quests that brought about permanent changes to the UW (which aren't even finished yet), Nicholas x2, all the Zaishen stuff in April... and there is still more to come. None of that would have happened if as you say, they have pulled 100% of their teams to GW2. It may not seem like "much" but considering the game is 4.5 years old, it's a lot more than you get from many other games that old. Also, your comments about what GW2 will or will not have are purely speculation at this point since none of those kinds of details have been released yet, unless of course you have a crystal ball. I have also had long time GW friends stop playing, but that just opens up room to meet new people, and believe me, there are new people joining the GW community every day. As for games being designed for the young and jobless, well, you will find that a lot of people that play games have jobs, and still find time to play, I'm sorry you have to work weekends, but Halloween is a week long event, and Wintersday is 2. The rest are geared to the majority of players. -- Wyn talk 12:21, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Basically in agreement with Wyn. If anything however the weekend events are geared for those who have jobs. (not having a job would render waiting for the weekend a pointless affair) In waiting for the weekend it allows most people who work mon-fri jobs (which is the great majority of people) the ability to utilise the weekend bonuses. If you don't like this, then the advice is to get a week day job rather than a weekend job. I myself do a job which requires a great deal of my time and I work well into the weekends most weeks, however I still get to enjoy the weekend event when I'm free and if it's something I REALLY want to do, then I plan in advance and make sure my schedule is free for the weekend. (also just as an aside, how does mouse movement work in a truly 3d environment? You can't swim underwater in a point and click manner) -- Salome 17:03, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Salome, isn't it obvious? Guild Wars 2 devs should be working on integrating gesture-based depth controls to allow for click-to-move. I mean, we certainly don't want them balancing skills, pre-planning events, or bothering with detail-rich content. ··· Danny Pew Pew 19:50, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Except, Wyn, as you pointed out, they only hired one new designer. Only one. If they were really serious about adding new content to GW1 and keeping it going for people as well as help Linsey and the rest of the Live Team have a bit more sane workload, they would have hired at least 3-4 new designers instead. Not that anyone in the playerbase who isn't a 4 year vet would even have had a chance at getting the job anyway. And maybe with more designers they might actually find it possible to respond to us in a timely manner and not leave us in the dark all the time. --Nathe 22:12, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Having more minions doesn't necessarily make anyone spend LESS time locked away in their Towers... --ilr 04:40, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Only one. That's a 100% increase from what they had, so I would call it significant. -- Wyn talk 13:42, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Except that they could have hired more, and had a 300%-400% increase instead. Why do you keep missing that? --Nathe 13:50, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Nathe, you seem to have this idea that, in a non-PPM video game, ANet would somehow manage to have enough money to hire more than one designer. Unfortunately, most people don't like to work full time for free, so they have to compensate their designers. Also, as confusing as it may be, people generally get paid what they're worth. Sure, ANet might've been able to hire 2-3 high school drop-outs to assist the team for the same price, but I'm gonna go ahead and assume those high school drop-outs probably couldn't collectively produce a decent, functional, non-plagiarized idea if you gave them an entire year to do so.

Though, I'm not sure why I bothered to write this. No one on this wiki seems to understand that Guild Wars is a product made by a business whose goal is to make money. ··· Danny Pew Pew 19:44, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, it's to bad that many couldn't come up with any really intelligent argument. There is no really any point responding to tidas's comments because it's unintelligent, illogical, and doesn't relate to the issue or point of which I was hinting at. If a person has played the game for four years, has put in the time and work, they should be able to obtain most of the things the game has to offer. It's not as simple as supply and demand setting the cost for certain items in the game. I wish it was, but it's not. There isn't really one thing you can tie the over all issue I was getting at, and regaurdless of players not caring if people leave or quit the game, Anet does or should. I never said that getting things done or obtaining certain titles shouldn't be a challenge, one reason we play the game is for that reason. But, there is a differance between challenging and impossible or unreasonable. There is no reason why people that play the game like me hours and hours a day or for someone that plays a couple hours a day, can't accomplish close to the same things if they have been playing the game for years and years. With the coming of gw2 and the game rapping up, anet shouldn't be making changes to the game that raise prices and make it harder for people make money. It was like with the four year changes, they created new ways to get points and items like sweets and party points. It was a good change, and I had thought that gw was finally seeing that some of the things were a bit unreasonable. I offer help to many people in the game, I hear what people are saying, they get mad because its to costly and time consuming to do much. There is not anyone thing I do in the game, I try to take advantage of as many aspects of the game as I can, and I agree that some of the things are unreasonable. They should not be taking away farms or making changes to the game that are causing prices to go up. If I wanted to I could buy almost all the titles I'm trying to get, but why should I? Where is the fun in that? Take Zrank or the sweet title, and really do the math to think about how much farming you would have to do to reach max. Even expecting people to buy the title is crazy, but why shouldn't people that play on a regular basis be able to reach those titles just playing the game. Anyway, if people don't want to really talk about the real issues I'm bring up, then there is nothing I'm going to say that is going to make a differece. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Wild Ranger Drizzit (talk • contribs) at 18:05, 17 November 2009 (UTC).

Honestly I agree with some points, but every1 just cant have everything. I will never see a mini mad king's guard in my inventory. With what 20 added to game and 6 million + accounts it seems a little too rare. I do feel everything should be obtainable IG. If its not it shouldnt exist(mad kings guard for example), but everything else is a joke. The traveler made sure of that.--SirBoss 19:20, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Ok, firstly, I am unintelligent and illogical, therefore any comments I make are forced to follow suit, and secondly, all rpg games have some element of grind. Almost all games of any genre still require time invested, which means that yes, people that have played more often will on average have accomplished more, as they have had more time in which to do so. I am not saying it's impossible by any means to get any or all of the titles, and technically it isn't. It's just that in reality it will take you a relatively unsurmountable amount of required play time.

Now if your saying you want the required time to be shorter, then that just brings me back to one of my original points that no player wants to reach a point in the game where they have absolutely nothing to strive for. PS Apparently the unintelligent part of me still wants you to break up your big walls of text. Tidas 01:48, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

If one has gotten most everything on a character and still wants to play, one should just make another character and starting getting all that stuff on him/her as well. But yes, I think much of the grind does seem to be unnecessarily long. --Nathe 13:56, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

"Anyway, if people don't want to really talk about the real issues I'm bring up..." Okay, what ARE the issues you are bringing up? Items/titles too expensive? No fun to max titles? People should be able to max titles without 'grinding'? Goals impossible to obtain? --Arduin 15:28, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, most of it it's a rant, but it's true that it seems that the one putting prices in some things must be a serious grinder. No way I'll get the big backpack for all my characters for example. And now that ZC can be used to get weapons, the backpacks are no longer the 'best thing to get', and there is no reason to keep their prices so high. But they will stay like that. They will probably try to make the game last 2 years more with that added. MithTalk 17:04, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] The Login Screen

So you guys finally decided to catch up with the times. It's nice to see that there was an update, still haven't cruised over the notes yet, but I was even more impressed when I saw it show up on the Login Screen. I don't know what I feel happy for: our constant pestering if Arenanet to catch up or the fact that it's finally there. Still, I'd like to say I appreciate the addition, please give my thanks to whoever decided it was time to put it there. --~~000.00.00.00~~ 08:55, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

As with most things in the company, it would be inaccurate to say that one individual decided that it was a good idea to have something in the login screen. This company is not an authoritarian one, where one person comes up with a course of action, and then everyone works to make it happen. What happened was the community department went to the developers to discuss it and push for it over a period of time. I've always wanted the login screen to provide much more information than it has been doing, and way more information than it is technically capable of doing. I checked with Joe on just how much programming would have to be done to create a well-designed and information-rich login screen. It's a lot of time and resources, and it is not on the top of the priority list. I've been bringing this issue to their attention for a while, but it wasn't until recently that I've been able to get traction on it and justify that we really, really need to have a link to the Game Update notes on the login screen. Martin and I have been discussing the design of the GW2 login screen as well, and we both have very strong opinions on what should be included there and what players expect to be there. --Regina Buenaobra 01:18, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

i don't know how you guys are going to do the log in screens for gw2 but don't make the same mistake you made with gw1 and build the newer log ins off the old one so we can have the old log in screens if we want to in gw2. on this topic its much welcomed and a about time thing for me seeing as i requested this Way long ago before i made a long on for wiki even.- Zesbeer 01:53, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

Players know there was an update because the game will update itself, but it's always a good idea to put a link to the update notes in the login screen, so people insterested can go directly there and get more info. Some people have never visited the official site, and other don't even know that you can hit F10 and input searches for the wiki. MithTalk 13:46, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

What's your opinion about countdowntimers for live ingame events, this could resolve the time issue. 84.80.151.136 15:18, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Could you also push to have the login screen replaced? EotN has been out for more than 2 years now... it's gotten more time to shine than any of the other logins did. I want the Canthan one back, where you stand on the pillar.  :/ I know this question has been answered before, but it's not like you guys threw out the maps when they were rotated... wait, did you? –Jette 16:16, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Would be epic lol if they did... --Boro 16:19, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Thank you

for the journal update. I can't speak for all of us, but I, for one, appreciate it. is for Raine, etc. 04:29, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

me too. - Wuhy 09:47, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

Finally! Appreciated. --Boro 10:14, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks indeed -- Cyan 11:42, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

If that's done the way I hope it will, then this is one of the best journal updates I've read for a long time. MithTalk 13:43, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, cheers. :) A F K When Needed 15:22, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

its about time InfestedHydralisk 22:51, 21 November 2009 (UTC)